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Automotive Chassis Testing Page 1 of 2Bill Greco, Mechanical Engineer, Warrington, Pa. w2gre@verizon.netThere's a science to testing metal structures for rigidity and performanceunder stress, The development of new testing methodologies is continuing at afast pace, aided by new technologies. For example, motion controllers havebeen developed to support special capabilities for exerting forces on structuresthat can deliver, in a very short time, the loads and movement that assemblieswould otherwise require an enormous amount of time.Motion control electrical devices connected to hydraulic and electro-mechanical actuators induce stresses and measure responses that would bedifficult to accomplish under actual real world conditions.Consider the issues associated with testing an automotive chassisfor strength and reliability to road conditions. In the past, measuringinstruments were typically attached to a car's chassis, the car was run on theroad, and data was assessed. Between test sessions, the data was analyzed andthe chassis would be tweaked and tuned to change its driving characteristics.Following this, the car was sent back out and the data was taken again.It was difficult to optimize, because so many variables were changing at the same time.It can also be time consuming and expensive to schedule "track time" to try outdiffernet versions of the design.A good way to test a chassis would be to do so in a controlled environmentwhere one can isolate the various factors causing stress and see how changes to thechassis under test modify the system's response to different variables.Some comapnies have been building automotive chassis testers for years.Among the company's customers are the leading NASCAR andIndy Racing League (IRL) teams. Test rigs on which race car chassis aremounted and subjected to stresses to show how they perform, Each rig hasmultiple actuators. The actuators can be moved individually, or they can besynchronized to operate together.To operate the actuators, a programmable motion controller is used.Motion controllers have built-in support for: Curve following,Position controling. Synchronization, and/or force limit of multiple motion.Because motion controllers can output information on the conditions of themotion that they produce, they make ideal data acquisition instruments aswell as controllers. A closed loop motion controller is used,it makes decisions and adjusts con trol of the motion based on feedback from sensors attached to the chasis. The test rig system uses eight motioncontrol axes for position control and force monitoring.The controller can get its position inputs from transducers mounted on theactuators at the wheels, or it can close the control loop using a voltagefrom potentiometers attached to the shock absorbers. Both modes employforce limiting using load cells to make sure that the motion doesn't bend theframe. Information from the load cells can also be used by the motioncontroller to allow the simulation of forces that are measured on the road and canenable testing to see if there's any problems between components.Jogging allows small adjustments in actuator motion conrol.Use of a hydraulic cylinder at each wheel that can move the wheels independentlyis standard operation. The cylinders can double as jacks to facilitateunder-car suspension adjustments.Discrete moves between specific points are produced relative to a current location.A PC only needs to send the points and PLC does all the motion controlwork. Plus, because of its programmability, a motion controller can providethe capability to add new test features.To produce a motion "target" for the motion controller to follow,a controller typically works with a program and a recording of the car's motion
It’s possible that up to 200,000 data points that a motion controller cansequences through.
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